William K. Black is author of 'The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One' and Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007 and previously taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, and at Santa Clara University. A federal regulator during the Savings and Loan crisis, he appears in Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story.'
Bill Black: Bad Cop; Crazed Cop – the IMF and the ECB
Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives Greetings again from Ireland. One of the many mysteries about the current crisis is why anyone listens to the IMF or anyone that supported its anti-regulatory policies. Prior to the crisis, even the IMF had begun to confess that its austerity programs made poor ...
My Class, right or wrong – the Powell Memorandum’s 40th Anniversary
August 23, 2011 will bring the 40th anniversary of one of the most successful efforts to transform America. Forty years ago the most influential representatives of our largest corporations despaired. They saw themselves on the losing side of history. They did not, however, give in to that despair, but rather ...
Obama Embraces the "Economic Philosophy That Has Completely Failed"
President Obama's Executive Order on regulatory review was originally set in motion by his February 3, 2009 direction to OMB to create an improved regulatory review process.The fundamental principles and structures governing contemporary regulatory review were set out in Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993. A great deal has ...
'An Economic Philosophy That Has Completely Failed'
I get President Obama's "regulatory review" plan, I really do. His game plan is a straight steal from President Clinton's strategy after the Republican's 1994 congressional triumph. Clinton's strategy was to steal the Republican Party's play book. I know that Clinton's strategy was considered brilliant politics (particularly by the Clintonites), ...
How Did a Relatively Small Number of Subprime Loans Cause a Record Crisis?
A number of analyses of the U.S. and global crisis begin by attempting to explain what they assume to be a paradox -- how could so small a market segment (subprime housing and CDOs backed by subprime) have caused (1) the largest financial bubble in history, (2) a U.S. economic ...
2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
The role of the criminal justice system with regard to financial fraud by elite bankers in 2011 is likely to reprise its role last decade -- de facto decriminalization. The Galleon investigation of insider trading at hedge funds will take much of the FBI's and the Department of Justice's (DOJ) ...
Why Cash Incentives for Whistleblowers Are So Useful Against Control Frauds
Marty Robins' December 15, 2010, column "Blow the Whistle on Pointless Whistleblowing" in The Huffington Post opposed the SEC implementing the Dodd-Franks Act's provision that the SEC should develop a system of financial incentives for whistleblowers. Mr. Robins is a former corporate counsel with strongly conservative, anti-regulatory views. His purpose ...
The Effort to Claim That Economists Support Obama's Capitulation on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
You know the administration is desperate when it creates a web page citing economists who support its capitulation on taxes.The web page cites the support of five economists. Peter Cardillo, the Bank of America, Greg Mankiw, and Wells Fargo (are the second through fifth economists on Obama's list). Who are ...
What Aspect of Dealing with Bullies Did Obama Fail to Learn as a Child?
President Obama has adopted Republican tax policies he knows to be disastrous for the nation. Obama never learned, or forgot, one of the essential lessons of junior high school – how to deal with bullies. (This is proof positive that he is a native-born American – he never would have ...
Written with L. Randall WrayOur call for closing down control frauds and stopping the foreclosure frauds typically meets with three objections. First, it is claimed that while there were some bad apple lenders, much of the fraud was committed by borrowers. Our proposal would let fraudulent borrowers remain in homes ...
Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 1: Put Bank of America in Receivership
Written with L. Randall WrayAfter a quick review of its procedures, Bank of America this week announced that it will resume its foreclosures in 23 lucky states next Monday. While the evidence is overwhelming that the entire foreclosure process is riddled with fraud, President Obama refuses to support a national ...
Capitalism Would Have Killed the Chilean Miners: A Reply to Mr. Henninger
One of our family sayings is: "you can't compete with self-parody". Daniel Henninger is the most recent proof of this saying. He authored a column on October 14, 2010 entitled "Capitalism Saved the Miners." Mr. Henninger is an editorial writer/editor for the Wall Street Journal. His essay, of course, was ...
What Obama Could Do Now, Without Congress, to Fix the Mortgage Meltdown
1. Appoint (on a recess basis) Michael Patriarca as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).[Mike was the OCC wunderkind who was in charge of supervising the largest national banks then served as head of the OTS' West Region where he served with even greater distinction. He has worked ...
Algebra for Dummies: Mathematical 'Proof' of the Inferiority of Homosexuals
Most forms of open revulsion for despised minorities have been banished from academic literature. But the academic campaign against rights for gays is proud about its descent into ever more virulent attacks on gay people and homosexuality.One stream of the attacks seeks to prove that gays and homosexual are inferior. ...
SEC & MMS: A Tale of Two Failures
Written with Eliot SpitzerHow many disasters will it take to overhaul the regulatory agencies? The SEC and the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) share a number of characteristics we can’t help but notice in the wake of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, which followed the second-worst financial disaster in ...
The Senate Banking Committee released the findings from its investigation of Washington Mutual – the largest S&L and largest bank failure. My research specialty is “control fraud.” These are frauds led by those that control seemingly legitimate entities and use them as a “weapon” to defraud. Financial control frauds’ “weapon ...
An Open Letter to Dr. Walter E. MasseyChairman, Bank of AmericaPresident, emeritus, Morehouse CollegeFromWilliam K. BlackAssociate Professor of Economics and LawUniversity of Missouri – Kansas CityFebruary 6, 2010Re: Hans-Olaf Henkel, Bank of America’s Senior Advisor in GermanyDear Dr. Massey,I am writing in my individual capacity. It came to my attention ...
Why is Obama Championing Bush's Financial Wrecking Crew?
Tom Frank's book: The Wrecking Crew explains how the Bush administration destroyed effective government and damaged our social fabric and our economy. The Obama administration has chosen to reward two of the worst leaders of Bush's crew – Geithner and Bernanke – with promotion and reappointment. Embracing the Wrecking Crew's ...
Animal House Rules: Treasury Proposes to Use DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION
You can never compete with self-parody, and Treasury and the Fed have mastered the art. The proposed legislation to respond to systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) reveals that the Fed and Treasury are sowing the seeds for the next crisis. But the bill is also wonderfully wacky. The core of the ...
1. The financial sector harms the real economy.The financial sector, even when it is not in crisis, harms the real economy. First, it is vastly too large. The finance sector is an intermediary (a “middleman”) and like all middlemen it should be as small as possible while still being capable ...
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June 1st, 2011
Bill Black: Bad Cop; Crazed Cop – the IMF and the ECB
Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives Greetings again from Ireland. One of the many mysteries about the current crisis is why anyone listens to the ...
April 28th, 2011
My Class, right or wrong – the Powell Memorandum’s 40th Anniversary
August 23, 2011 will bring the 40th anniversary of one of the most successful efforts to transform America. Forty years ago the most influential representatives ...
January 21st, 2011
Obama Embraces the "Economic Philosophy That Has Completely Failed"
President Obama's Executive Order on regulatory review was originally set in motion by his February 3, 2009 direction to OMB to create an improved regulatory ...
January 19th, 2011
'An Economic Philosophy That Has Completely Failed'
I get President Obama's "regulatory review" plan, I really do. His game plan is a straight steal from President Clinton's strategy after the Republican's 1994 ...
January 3rd, 2011
How Did a Relatively Small Number of Subprime Loans Cause a Record Crisis?
A number of analyses of the U.S. and global crisis begin by attempting to explain what they assume to be a paradox -- how could ...
December 29th, 2010
2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
The role of the criminal justice system with regard to financial fraud by elite bankers in 2011 is likely to reprise its role last decade ...
December 27th, 2010
Why Cash Incentives for Whistleblowers Are So Useful Against Control Frauds
Marty Robins' December 15, 2010, column "Blow the Whistle on Pointless Whistleblowing" in The Huffington Post opposed the SEC implementing the Dodd-Franks Act's provision that ...
December 8th, 2010
What Aspect of Dealing with Bullies Did Obama Fail to Learn as a Child?
President Obama has adopted Republican tax policies he knows to be disastrous for the nation. Obama never learned, or forgot, one of the essential lessons ...
October 13th, 2009
1. The financial sector harms the real economy.The financial sector, even when it is not in crisis, harms the real economy. First, it is vastly ...
June 1st, 2011
Bill Black: Bad Cop; Crazed Cop – the IMF and the ECB
Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives Greetings again from Ireland. One of the many mysteries about the current crisis is why anyone listens to the ...
December 10th, 2010
The Effort to Claim That Economists Support Obama's Capitulation on Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
You know the administration is desperate when it creates a web page citing economists who support its capitulation on taxes.The web page cites the support ...
October 16th, 2010
Capitalism Would Have Killed the Chilean Miners: A Reply to Mr. Henninger
One of our family sayings is: "you can't compete with self-parody". Daniel Henninger is the most recent proof of this saying. He authored a column ...
January 21st, 2011
Obama Embraces the "Economic Philosophy That Has Completely Failed"
President Obama's Executive Order on regulatory review was originally set in motion by his February 3, 2009 direction to OMB to create an improved regulatory ...
October 26th, 2010
Written with L. Randall WrayOur call for closing down control frauds and stopping the foreclosure frauds typically meets with three objections. First, it is claimed ...
'The East'
Why have you started a comedy festival in northern Michigan in the middle of winter?
Because if you were here in the dead of winter in the middle of nowhere (which is actually somewhere to us), you'd need a few laughs too ... Continue Reading
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Michael Moore on the Rachel Maddow Show, 2/27/12
